Zero Waste - Day 21

I have emptied the kitchen bin this morning and we are on 340g of waste to go into the landfill bin. 1 carrier bag again.

The majority of this again is plastic that can't be recycled.

I am really pleased that even though I untaped the bin the boys and Dave have not been putting things into it without thinking.

I do have a couple of ideas up my sleeve to try and reduce some of the plastic meat wrappers and will elaborate as and when they come into practice.

I have a good size box of plastics to take to the HRF or HWRC as the County Council like to call it; and will go armed with my email from the County Council, which states which plastics they accept.

Campaign to the Supermarkets

I wrote a long email yesterday to Tesco head office asking for recyclable and recycled packaging in all their own label/value products or at the very least information on the type of packaging so that as a consumer we can recycle it as we know what type of plastic etc it is.

I also asked that they provide recycling bins for all types of packaging and allowed customers to bring in their own containers for taking products home from the deli,butchery and fish counter, or provide readily recyclable ones as a choice.

I will wait with baited breath for a response but you never know.

Black Landfill Bin and Recycling Waste

Following on from the last 2 weeks I have decided to not put out the Landfill Wheelie Bin for collection until it is full.

So I will be monitoring this now as an ongoing project to see just how long it takes us to fill it; based on the last 2 weeks I would hazard a guess at 3 months (12 weeks); but we will see.

Whilst taking DS2 to school this morning we were discussing how well we have done over the last 2 weeks and then discussed that the next step would be to reduce packaging coming into the house at source, so that even though we can recycle it; it is still waste/rubbish which has to be dealt with.

Alot of things which we use do not come in an alternative form so we will have to continue to put this packaging into the recyling bin.
A typical example of this is Dh's beer cans or my wine bottle, as well as the tins that certain products come in like baked beans.

Zero Waste - Day 14

Rubbish collected for the week to go into the landfill bin, which can't be recycled:

8 crisp packets (twisted & knotted)

1 tobacco packet from DH
2 plastic tops from cream tubs
1 glass bottle lid with plastic inside
1 butter wrapper (supporting the local milkman)
1 multipak crisp wrapper (twisted & knotted)
8 chicken drumstick bones
2 plastic sleeves from meats that were used from freezer

Total weight of rubbish put into landfill this week.........................309 g

So whilst not a total zero waste fortnight, our rubbish has decreased from 2 black bin liners and sometimes 3 every 2 weeks to just under 650g in the 2 week period; basically everything in our landfill bin would fit into a carrier bag even after 2 weeks.

I am more than pleased with this result, but will continue to moniter and even reduce further over the coming weeks and months.

Zero Waste - Day 13

Well we are here at our penultimate day of the challenge; I have been reading "The Book of Rubbish Ideas" by Tracy Smith both the blog and I purchased the book yesterday from Waterstones. It is a very intersting read.

On the recycling front I can't believe how much plastic we get that can now be recycled at the HRF. I have a small box full already and that is only after 2 weeks. I think the trip there will definitely be monthly rather than the bi-monthly which I thought originally; at least until we find some alternatives for some of the products we buy, which is the ultimate goal.

I have another box containing things which hopefully will be able to be sent to GHS and also to Kristal, who is an art and design student who is using bottle tops to make a dress (see http://www.myzerowaste.com/) for the info on that.

Waste from meals

Dinners from the last couple of nights have only produced recyclable/compostable waste.

Thursday:
Fishfingers, mashed potatoes, mushy peas

2 fishfinger boxes
potato peelings
2 tins from mushy peas

Friday:

Jacket potatoes with cheese and baked beans

2 baked bean tins
the cheese was bulk purchased previously and grated then stored in portion size tubs in the freezer.

Zero Waste - Day 12

On my trip to Sainsburys yesterday I was also looking at the dishwasher products as will be needing some on the next trip, Sainsburys own "Clean Home" tablets come in a cardboard box (recyclable) and the tablets are wrapped in a disolvable film as you don't have to unwrap them when putting in the dishwasher.

I also bought some Fairtrade Organic Bananas which come in a package which clearly states on it that it can be put into the compost heap.

My friend has given me a load of cooking apples so these will be cooked down and frozen, or chopped and frozen for use over the coming months. There will also be some mincemeat made ready for the mince pies at Christmas.

I was a very kindly given a load of brand new jam jars by the boys Karate teacher who wasn't going to use them himself.